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Thursday, 27 January 2011

ScotlandsPeople Centre - FamilySearch access

Just back from a day's research at the ScotlandsPeople Centre and thought I should pass on a useful tip for others wishing to do research there using FamilySearch.

FamilySearch has launched a new version of its website at www.familysearch.org, but at the moment the terminals in the centre cannot properly provide for it, as the current internet browser needs to be updated (I believe the new site requires Internet Explorer 8) - the staff are fully aware of this and there are plans to sort it in the near future. In the meantime however, if you need to access FamilySearch, you'll have a problem.

However - you can still gain access to the old version of Family Search. Ordinarily the easiest way to gain access is to simply visit www.familysearch.org and to either click on the link to the old site found on the right side of the page or to scroll to the bottom and click on the link found there. However, because of the current incompatibality of the browser, the new version of the site is not displaying these links.

Never fear though - simply type in www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp to the address bar and you will be taken through to the old version of the website, which works perfectly. I've not used them for over a year now, but I believe there is also still a set of IGI CD-ROM discs in the Dundas Room (open to correction on that though).Chris

I was luckily able to use Ancestry OK yesterday (invaluable for doing census chases as you can use the birthplace field to easily find someone who isn't where they should be!), but the staff did specifically mention that Ancestry was affected by the IE8 issue also. I have had problems on a previous visit with Ancestry though, and definitely feel your pain! Hopefully won't be too long in getting resolved, they moved fairly quickly on the Flash issue some time ago.